Lifestyle Sports: Latest from Food Politics: What is the FDA doing about food safety these days?

By Marion Nestle

August 05 2025

What is the FDA doing about food safety these days?

One of the underfunded and understaffed FDA’s major responsibility is to ensure the safety of the food supply. Here’ are the actions the Trump Administration’s FDA is announcing lately.

I. RUF Releases Produce Safety Roadmap: A Call for Action

The Reagan-Udall Foundation (RUF) for the FDA released its Roadmap to Produce Safety: Summary Report of the Produce Safety Dialogue…the report makes two primary recommendations:

Implement a shared responsibility approach

Form a structured, stakeholder-led collaboration

In line with the RUF recommendation, the FDA is calling on growers, buyers, sellers, and federal and state regulators to form a sustainably funded stakeholder collaboration that includes academia and consumer advocates and actively improves conditions and practices to reduce contamination and prevent foodborne illness.

Comment: The RUF is an independent group created by Congress to support the FDA. Produce safety is a huge issue for the FDA, complicated because oversight is split between it and the USDA. Produce becomes unsafe when it is exposed to pathogenic organisms spread by animal waste. Yes, everyone involved in the food chain shares responsibility for safety. By law, everyone who produces food is supposed to do it safely. In practice, everyone points fingers at everyone else. Collaboration would be nice. But calling for enforcement of existing laws makes more sense.

II. FDA Releases 2025 Human Foods Program Guidance Agenda

The FDA’s Human Foods Program published their proposed 2025 guidance agenda…These topics are a priority for the agency’s Human Foods Program to complete during 2025. New topics include:

Action Level for Opiate Alkaloids on Poppy Seeds: Draft Guidance for Industry

Food Colors Derived from Natural Sources: Fruit Juice and Vegetable Juice as Color Additives in Food; Draft Guidance for Industry

New Dietary Ingredient (NDI) Notifications and Related Issues: Identity and Safety Information About the NDI: Guidance for Industry

Other guidance documents

Comment: The list of items under regulatory development is long and involves this one among many others: Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food Proposed Rule. I think preventive controls are extremely important in ensuring food safety. I looked up this one. It’s written in FDA-speak:

This proposed rule would remove certain requirements that currently apply when a manufacturer/processor of human food has identified a hazard that requires a preventive control, but does not control that hazard. Although that manufacturer/processor would still be required to provide documentation that the food has not been processed to control the identified hazard, that manufacturer/processor would no longer be required to obtain written assurance from the commercial customer that the identified hazard will be controlled.

<III. FDA Releases New Tool for Toxicity Screening of Chemicals in Food.The Trump Administration’s MAHA movement is deeply concerned about chemical contaminants in the food supply, and is beginning to act on those concerns. In the usual way this administration communicates, it posted this announcement on X.

Comment: The Tool enables regulators to screen chemicals and predict whether they are likely to pose problems. It does not seem to be for the general public. If you want to find out about the hazards of specific chemical contaminants, you must go to the Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool to see what the FDA says about safety standards and action levels.

sI checked for lead. The action level for lead in processed foods intended for babies is 10 parts per billion. Anything higher than that renders the food adulterated and illegal to sell.

What to Eat Now: The Indispensable Guide to Good Food, How to Find It, and Why It Matters.